LIVERMORE FALLS – The weather was in mid-season form, so it seemed fitting that the defending Western Class C champions would be for their season-opener, too.

Jacob Turner struck out 11, homered and drove in five runs to lead Jay over Livermore Falls Monday, 10-3, on a summer-like Patriots’ Day afternoon.

“I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes and make them put it in play. My defense was pretty solid behind me,” Turner said. “I was a little bit surprised (by the number of strikeouts). My curve ball wasn’t working exactly the way I wanted it to.”

Turner surrendered one hit and two walks in five innings on the hill. The first batter he faced, Brad Bryant got the Andies’ only hit off of him, a double. He later scored on a Chuck Drake groundout.

Turner went on to strike out the side in the second and 10 out of the last 12 batters he faced.

“The first couple of innings, he wasn’t very sharp. He was keeping the ball up in the zone,” said Jay coach Chris Bessey. “After the second inning, I think he got into a little bit of a groove. He started spotting his fastball and his curve ball was biting a little better.”

Jay took a quick 1-0 lead in the first off Livermore starter Mike Chamard on Turner’s first RBI, a sacrifice fly to score Ryan DiPompo (two hits, three runs).

Livermore Falls (0-2) tied it in the bottom of the frame on Drake’s grounder back to the box, then nearly took the lead when the next batter, Chamard, crushed one to straight away center. DiPompo went back to the fence and leapt to catch it and fell partially over the fence when he landed. He emerged upright with the baseball and Chamard was called out.

Livermore Falls coach Brian Dube argued, to no avail, that the ball landed on the other side of the fence and DiPompo picked it up on a hop.

Turner put the Tigers in front for good in the third, smashing an 0-1 offering from Chamard over the left field fence for a solo homer.

“It was right in my sweet spot, right where I like it, up and in, and I turned on it,” Turner said.

The Tigers broke it open with five in the fourth, punctuated by an RBI single from DiPompo, a two-run single by Turner and an opposite-field homer by Ryan Bourassa.

“We had a kid miss the bus and he got an opportunity and made the most of it,” Bessey said of Bourassa. “He can hit the ball and he showed that he’s got a little pop in his bat.”

Jay added an RBI groundout by Turner and a two-run single by Austin Ouellette in the sixth to make it 10-1. With Ryan DiPompo on in relief of Turner, the Andies plated a run in the sixth on Tyler Cote’s sacrifice fly and one in the seventh on an RBI single by Drake.

“Turner pitched well and I tip my hat to Jay because they hit the ball,” Dube said. “They got some key two-out hits when they needed them. They were able to hit the baseball when they needed to and we never really got any rhythm going offensively and that was the difference in the game.”

Bryant reached base four times for the Andies and scored twice. Jacob Farrington went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs for Jay.
rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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